Malaysia, which imported $653.9 million of auto products from the Kingdom last year, remains Thailand's fourth largest auto market after Australia, Japan and Indonesia.

Thai auto-sector exports to Malaysia have increased steadily over the past few years, totalling $171.8 million in 2002, $253.5 million in 2003, and $425.3 million in 2004.

The Export Promotion Department said Thailand, which aims to be the "Detroit of Asia", had shipped completely built automobiles worth $52.4 million to Malaysia from January to August, compared to $35 million in the same period last year and $56.71 overall in 2005.

Thailand also exported motorcycles and motorcycle parts worth $31.24 million to Malaysia, a 49.3-per-cent increase year on year.

Qantas cuts surcharge

Qantas will reduce its international fuel surcharges for tickets issued from tomorrow.

Chief executive officer Geoff Dixon said on Friday the new one-way fuel surcharge from Australia to Europe would be 170 Australian dollars (Bt4,760), down from $185.

The charge for the routes to North and South America, South Africa and India will be $130, down from $145.

"When Qantas was forced to address the issue of high fuel costs in May 2004, we chose to add a surcharge rather than increase the cost of fares so that we could reduce or remove the additional charge if fuel prices dropped," Dixon said.

Seven's Asian push

Seven, the US-based provider of push (always on) e-mail services, last week announced plans to expand in Asia Pacific with the focus on the needs of the end user and to make mass-market push e-mail a reality for operator customers.

Seven has 30 operator customers in the region and claims to control 65 per cent of the so-called white-label market worldwide.

Seven says its secure and reliable push e-mail solution offers a viable alternative to Blackberry. With the support of a wide range of devices - more then 200 models - and device platforms like Symbian, Microsoft, Java and Palm and Brew in some regions, Seven's solution is now available both for personal and corporate e-mail users.

Based on what it says is a conservative assessment, Seven's customer base has a combined addressable market of 700 million subscribers worldwide, of which 200 million are in Asia Pacific, excluding Japan and China.

Bt120m aquarium deal

The local unit of US-based Reynolds Polymer Technology, a manufacturer, designer and installer of highly engineered thermoplastics, has been awarded a Bt120-million contract to participate in the Songkhla Aquarium project.

It is hoped the aquarium, the first in the province, will open to the public in April.

Reynolds Polymer Technology's chief executive officer Roger Reynolds said last week the aquarium would be the biggest public facility of its sort in Thailand, with an area of 4,000 square metres.

The company was established here in 2001, with a Bt160-million factory on the Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate in Rayong province. The plant has the capacity to produce 40,000 square metres of thermoplastics a year.

United wins again

Travel agents and tour operators in the Asia Pacific have voted United Airlines the Best North American Airline in the 17th TTG Travel Awards 2006, marking the seventh time it has won the annual award.

Mark Schwab, United Airlines' vice president for the Pacific, said on Friday the award had coincided with the carrier announcing it would increase its commitment to the region by adding more than 40 weekly flights and more cargo capacity to its Asia-Pacific schedule by next April.

He said United was also introducing a daily, non-stop service between Tokyo and Washington on October 28.